Researchers discovered the first glow-in-the-dark African mammal known to science by accident.
With the use of a flashlight, researchers entered the Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History to examine the fluorescent abilities of flying squirrels. However, they accidentally discovered springhares, collected in 1905, to glow for over 100 years.
Springhares are nocturnal species. The researchers discovered that live springhares also glow, but their fluorescence is stronger than the dead animals.
Animals absorb light and bounce it back out again to produce fluorescence, which is natural. It only occurs on a handful of animals from three different continents inhabiting different ecosystems.
The study raises the question that there might be other animals out there pulsating in different shades of the rainbow, like stars in the night.
Image: Olson et al 2021
#glowinthedark #springhare #science